What Millennials Want in 2018

With over fifty percent of the world’s population under the age of 30, it has got many marketing executives thinking: how exactly do we tap into this segment and drive revenue? To answer this question, we will turn to the latest World Economic Forum: Global Shapers Survey for some interesting insights.

The survey found that most young people believe their views are not being taken seriously. When presented with the statement: “In my country, young people’s views are considered before important decisions are taken”, 55.9 percent respondents disagreed.

For starters, the millennial generation believes that climate change and conflict are the most pressing issues facing the planet. Secondly, they believe that we need more startups and entrepreneurship platforms to drive youth empowerment in any country. This was closely followed by access to the internet and fostering of free social media.

To address these concerns, we will have to start with climate change. It is the young people after all who will be left picking up the pieces after the older generation has bitten the dust. But with that statement made loud and clear, it is unknown exactly what actions should be taken across different levels of society to combat climate change.

Many people believe that we already have the technological answers to the challenges faced by our planet today. But experts such as Dr. Leon Clark view this statement with more skepticism, arguing, “We really have no sense of what it would take to deploy them at scale.” And he is right to some extent, that while we do have technology, it has only been tested on small laboratory scales. They simply haven’t been tested on a more industrial scale.

Project Drawdown was devised to address this challenge by providing useful calculation of technological solutions already in place and rank them according to CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions.

In the sphere of entrepreneurship, 78.6 percent people believe that technology is creating jobs while 21.4% believe that it is destroying jobs. But is it fair to assume that technology really has the answers to solve the problem of over 71 million unemployed 15 to 24 year olds around the globe?

Stimulating entrepreneurship on the same scale as Silicon Valley has failed. Even the experts who back successful ventures in the Valley are unable to pinpoint the factors that contributed to its prosperity. Ambitious projects which tried to replicate the world’s largest startup hub have failed to live up to expectations too. London’s Tech City is one such example.

Aside from the entrepreneurship, we have to address one big problem which has become a global epidemic. There are over 65 million displaced people who need safety, a roof over their heads and employment. Half of them are under the age of 18 and entirely vulnerable.

Perhaps the answer lies into the old adage, that there is no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ solution. We have to find a strategy that would appeal to the strengths of particular regions and design solutions tailored to meet their local needs.